The Edible Complex

blundering my way through cooking & plate presentation

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Brit Brit Greek

February 16, 2011

So last weekend’s brunch was like cooking for the United Nations. A Greek, 2 Brits, a Dutchman, a Russian and 2 Americans. But because it was Kirstie’s birthday I had to make my take on Bangers & Mash – which is nothing like Bangers & Mash. It’s like it was “based on a true story, but all the facts have been changed”.

I think it was a success, but the logistics of cooking, poaching, plating – all while things were still hot was a bit tough.

Probably my favorite part of the entire meal was a story about Giselle pretending to be a doctor.

Giselle is tall, blonde, Greek and beautiful – a lady just like any other you’d find in Greek mythology. She was on a flight, sitting next to a quiet soldier returning from Afghanistan when a lady in first class collapsed.

“Is there a doctor on board?” asked the disembodied voice of the pilot. Nothing. Again “Is there a doctor on board?”.

Never one to turn a blind eye to her fellow man, Giselle stood up. “I’m a doctor.”

She is a photographer.

“So I just stood up.” she said

“What?”

“I just stood up. You can do anything if you do it with confidence…”

“But pretending to be A DOCTOR?”

“Well I’ve had to deal with models collapsing and all sorts of things so kinda. But I haven’t had to deal with that since Paris…”

“…ok…”

“So anyway I went to first class where this lady was on the floor, foaming at the mouth. I bend down and started asking her ‘When was the last time you ate something?’ ‘2 days ago’ she says. So I asked ‘Did you take any Aspirin before flying?’ because that could lead to a Thrombosis because of thinning blood.”

“What? How do you know this? You’re a photographer!”

“Peter, everyone knows this. So eventually her husband lets me know she’s terrified of flying so I sat with her while she ate some nuts and drank some water. After a while I went back to my seat and there was this round of applause and a pilot and 5 flight attendants come out with champagne and 6 free upgrades! It was fantastic!”

“But you’re NOT A DOCTOR!”

“And then the soldier from Afghanistan sitting next to me, who this whole time had been totally silent turns to me and says ‘I’ve got this problem with my knee…”